Paul Cornet (1892-1977) - Lot 250

Paul Cornet (1892-1977) Standing female nude (Coralie?) Brown patina bronze proof, n°3/8 Lost-wax casting Claude Valsuani Founder's stamp on the edge of the terrace on the back Signed on the back on the terrace: "Cornet". 50 x 18 x 10.5 cm Trained at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1910, Cornet also frequented the studios of sculptor Ossip Zadkine and painter-muralist Diego Rivera. Initially influenced by the art of Rodin, he later turned to the works of Maillol and Despiau. Recognized for his talent, he became a sculpture teacher at the Scandinavian Academy between 1929 and 1935. The 1930s saw the establishment of his reputation After winning the Grand Prix de Sculpture in 1932 for Femme nue assise, Cornet received his first commissions for monumental sculptures: in 1937, La Campagne for the Palais de Chaillot on the occasion of the Exposition Universelle, around 1942, Vénus et l'Amour for the Orangerie de Meudon and in 1943, La Tour d'Auvergne sculpted for the Panthéon. In the 1950s, Cornet created La Jeune Fille et l'Agneau for the Lycée Mazamet in the Tarn region as part of the 1% artistic program. Together with Jean Carton, Marcel Damboise, Léopold Kretz and others, they founded the Groupe des Neuf under the aegis of Juliette Darle in 1963. Les Neuf is a reminder of the existence and persistence of strong, independent figurative sculpture. At the end of his life, Cornet was awarded the Prix Wildenstein (1967) and the Prix Paul-Louis Weiller (1972). For this delicate standing female nude, it is highly probable that Cornet was inspired by the model Coralie, who was posing in Montparnasse at the time for a number of sculptors, including Jean Osouf. Osouf's Têtes de Coralie have the same characteristics, and both shared the studios of the Académie Scandinave in Paris. This female nude can be compared with the artist's other nudes housed at La Piscine - Musée d'art et d'industrie André Diligent.